Plate for dining tables



mm, 26, mm.

J. H. FRY. PLATE FUR D! MING TABLES- FILED FEB. 21, 1922.

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Patented lD ec. as, 1922.

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PLATE FOR DINING TABLES.

Application filed February 21, 1922. Serial No. 538,187.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Jnssn HOWARD FRY, residing at Rochester, in the county of Beaver and State of Pennsylvania, a citizen of the United States, have invented or discovered certain new and useful Improvements in Plates for Dining Tables, of which improvements the following is aspecification.

My invention relates to improvements in plates for the dining table, and consists in an improved configuration, which makes for ease in handling and reduction of breakage. It concerns particularly plates which have considerable vogue in restaurants and which are provided with partitions, dividing the hollow or field of the plate into com- 'partments, for containing portions of the several componentsof a. meal.

The invention is illustrated in the. accompanyin drawings. Fig. I is a plan view from a ove of a plate embodying my invention; Fig. II is a view in vertical section of two plates stacked one upon another,

the plane of section being indicated bythe line II-II,,Fig. I.

The drawings show plates consisting of field 5, rim or margin 6, and, underneath,

, circumferential supporting flange 7, the

diameter of this circumferential flange being less than the inner diameter of the margin of the plate above; such is the usual conformation of a dinner plate. These" lunch plates or platters as they are sometimes called, for holding a platter lunch are in their field portions divided by partitions 1, 2 into compartments. the largest occupies ordinarily-more than half the. entire space, while the remaining 40 space is divided into two compartments or more.

When these; lunch plates are stacked or nested one upon another, the supporting beads 3 of the superior plate engage the partitions of the inferior, and, since the partitions are ordinarily all on one side of a diameter, the superior plate is imperfectly Supported. It will tip or wobble and, when several plates are so stacked together, plates at the top of the stack may easily slide from Of these integral blocks or bosses 4 extending preferably out from the margin of the plate toward the center. The boss (or bosses) entends a sufficlent distance, so that when .two plates are superposed the superior plate which on one side rests by engagement of its supporting flange/T upon partitions 1, 2 of the inferior plate will on the other side rest by engagement upon boss 4. But the outward extent of the boss into the field of the plate is not so great as seriously to interfere with the intended use of the plate. The lines may be curved in pleasing man-" ner, as the drawings show. Thus the upper plate rests firmly "against wobbling or tipping, and when a larger number of plates is so stacked. the plates are secure against accidental dislodgment and breakage. It will be observed on considering F igure II that the boss of thelowerplate afi'ords abutment both vertically and laterally for the flange 7 of the upper plate, and that therefore the upper plate rests securelyupon the lower.

.Of recent years glass whose coefficient of thermal expansion is very low has been used for baking dishes. I conveniently make plates embodying my invention of such material, and it will be understood that, as dis- 8'5 tinguished from pottery. a glass plate such. as this is formed by molding. Additionally, the glass which I preferably employ is not perfectly transparent but somewhat translucent; The effect of translucence increases with thickness, and, consequently, in a glass plate of my preferred construction, the partitions 1 and 2 as well as the abutment or boss (or bosses) 4 are emphasized or exaggerated in appearance, beyond what a plate of pottery shows, and in a way that is attractive, and in a way such as to call attention to the presenceof my invention.

I claim as my invention:

A plate for the dining table formed above 106 with a circular field and a rim and below and lateral abutment for the flange of a suwith a sustaining circumferential flange of perposed plate. 10 less diameter than the inner diameter of the In testimony whereof I have hereunto set rim above, a compartment-forming partimy hand.

tion traversing the field to one side of a JESSE HOW &RD FRY diameter, and a boss interrupting the circular continuity of the field on the side op- Vitness:

posite such partition and affording vertical FRANoIs J. TOMASSON. 

